ReMix:Tales of Phantasia "Just Go" 3:39

Ever since emerging himself with 2008's 'The Heroes Emerge,' Justin Medford, aka Nutritious, has provided some delicious tunage, in addition to facilitating numerous food-related writeup metaphors. We've already seen a couple Summoning of Spirits tracks from the early days of the project, now he and Fishy provide us with something (far) more recent:

"Being on several OCR projects that were quite a long time away from being released, I started looking around for other projects that were close to completion. I literally joined the Tales project at the last minute after convincing Kyle that I could start and finish my mix before the deadline two weeks away. I submitted a nearly finished mix a couple days before the deadline, but got some feedback that the lead synth wasn't quite strong enough to carry the melody. Fishy graciously agreed (on the day the mix was due actually) to record a couple of guitar leads to double up with the synth, which turned out awesome.

Anyway, about the mix. I started off remixing just 'Go A Step Further' (sounds like a fanfare song probably), but couldn't come up with enough material from that song alone. At around 1:40, the mix transitions to the second song, 'Go Over Adversity', with a modified time signature (I think the original is 5/4). I really wish I could've incorporated more of this song, because it has a very cool chorus that plays after the first melody. However, time constraints prevented me from doing this. Around 2:20 it switches back to Go A Step Further with a bit more shreddage from the Fish. Hope you guys enjoy."

The source tune titles put the rather witty mix title in perspective; good stuff. Fishy's lead *definitely* would have been difficult to match with a synth patch, as it combines his guitar technique with some really wicked, layered fx that include wah and who knows what else to create a truly massive sound. This is a hybrid piece, but it's almost more of a three-way than a two-way, as Cain's lead adds a rock vibe to the dominant orchestral and electronica elements. Things intro with ambient, breathy phased synth pads that get mixed in with sweet high strings, then brass, orchestral percussion, and lower tremolo strings, leading up to a beat drop @ 0'33". At first I was a little worried that the drums were too pedestrian, but Justin fixes that with some excellent programming & filter sweeps a bit later on. There's a sonar ping of sorts that I somehow missed completely the first time I listened that's an interesting addition, atop tempo-sync'd, sweeping synth arps. Ensemble strings and brass (a nice blend that actually reminds me of what I was shooting for with my SoM mix) cover the melodic duties up until 1'00" even, where the Fish enters with his mega-lead. Justin then starts filtering up the drums nicely, until they filter out entirely into a nice orchestral solo passage with brass stabs over a legato string progression... really solid changeup. Things actually stay drumless for awhile, then Justin brings back da synth and hats for an effective buildup back to the beats.

All in all, I can't find too much to criticize here, and I think having Fishy chip in took the mix up a notch and really created something special. I particularly dig the structural variety that Justin employed; things are always moving forward, but you get certain passages that are far more orchestral, and it's not just bookended at the beginning or end. Production, samples, and drum programming are all groovy. This did involve a resub, since the panel (rightly) criticized the original snare being used (which Justin worked fixed, much to the track's benefit); even prior to that, Vinnie was all about the arrangement, though:

"Holy hell I love this arrangement. The marriage of those strings, brass, and the stuttering, electronic trickery is perfect. I agree with Larry that there's not much of a hook here but texture, detail, and atmosphere makes this track. I love your filtered synths sweeping in and out, and Cain's guitar is just fantastic. Amazing performance, and stellar effects on it. I'm not sure there's anything that needs to change in the writing."

With the drum fix in, this one's definitely a standout track from the album - great concept + execution and wonderful blending of elements.